The defensive mechanism of the pill woodlouse is very recognisable - it curls itself into a tight ball, only showing its plated armour to its attacker. It is an important recycler of nutrients,…

Enchanter's nightshade is a hairy plant, with rounded leaves that taper to a fine tip, and clusters of small, pinky-white flowers in summer.

The large, sunshine-yellow flowers of the yellow iris brighten up the margins of our waterways, ponds, wet woods, fens and marshes. Also called the 'flag iris', its outer petals have a…

This striking black-and-white moth flies during the day in open woodlands, moorlands, and bogs. It's most common on Scottish moors.

The St Mark's fly is small, black and shiny. It is so-called because it emerges around St Mark's Day, April 25th. Large numbers of adults can be found in woodland edges, hedgerows,…

Look for the pinky-white flowers of the dog-rose in summer, and its bright red rosehips in autumn. It is a scrambling shrub of hedgerows, woodlands and grasslands.

The Marsh helleborine is a beautiful orchid of fens, wet grassland and dune slacks. Growing in profusion in places, look for reddish stems and white-and-pink flowers.

This comical little duck lives up to its name – look out for the black tuft of feathers on its head!

The tiny, brown-and-white sand martin is a common summer visitor to the UK, nesting in colonies on rivers, lakes and flooded gravel pits. It returns to Africa in winter.